[Laminar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

$50/mo.

my ping times anger Dakar

Suck my ping.



$20/month, no bundled cable or voice.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by sek929 

The speed I'm offered is more than adequate, but for others the next tier up is way to pricey. I'm only trying to keep up with your notion 256K is somehow fine for everyone.

My "notion" is simply that folks generally don't tend to push their gear to the max because of some strange desire to "have it all, have it now". There are other ways and means - a slight modification of workflow, a bit of planning. That's all.

The attitude you guys have displayed here is problematic on a wider scale. You all want faster for cheaper. I'm sure you're all familiar with this diagram:

This way of thinking (faster for cheaper) simply doesn't work - sooner or later something breaks and everything goes tits up. It's one of the main reasons why the western world's economy is in a mess right now.

[OreoCookie]

Doofy, I think the point here is two-fold: first of all, the limitation is rather artificial and it impedes the use of new services (such as online backups*).

To me, the ability to use online backups and to exchange files with other people's computers over the internet (I'm not talking about P2P filesharing, but rather VPNs) would be very appealing. In Japan, I've used a symmetric 22 MBit/s connection via a private company in 2003 -- which was by far the fastest (you could get 100 MBit at that time even). Now I have 3 MBit/s download and 384 kBit/s upload (I could get faster internet, but at home, it's not worth the extra money).

* I'd very much like to have regular online offsite backups by plugging in an additional external harddrive to my parents' Mac mini.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Doofy, I think the point here is two-fold: first of all, the limitation is rather artificial

But it's not artificial, is it? It's an actual technicality relating to how ADSL (etc.) lines operate. Signal to noise ration, crosstalk, that kind of jazz.

Don't you think that if it was that easy and cheap to go symmetric (without the entire country being ripped up and fiber being laid), there'd be a provider out there incorporating it into their service and shouting about it in order to get the jump on their competitors?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

But it's not artificial, is it? It's an actual technicality relating to how ADSL (etc.) lines operate. Signal to noise ration, crosstalk, that kind of jazz.

Don't you think that if it was that easy and cheap to go symmetric (without the entire country being ripped up and fiber being laid), there'd be a provider out there incorporating it into their service and shouting about it in order to get the jump on their competitors?

It's a technicality related to how ADSL hardware is fielded. Up until about 5 years ago, here in the States it required a relatively short copper loop to the actual Central Office (the telephone switch itself) to get any DSL service. Then they started fielding a device called a "remote terminal." RTs are about the size of local interconnect boxes-roughly 2m wide by 1.5m tall by .75m deep-and allow for VERY short copper loops. Those short loops pretty much eliminate the need to limit uplink speeds because the DSLAM is only a few hundred meters away from the customer instead of kilometers. In other words, uplink crosstalk is no longer the huge obstacle it once was. ISPs just need to take this into account.

And TELCOS here ARE "ripping up the entire country" (rather slowly, too) and installing fiber. It's not a big deal though, because they are doing this in the course of regular line maintenance. AT&T's "Uverse" service requires fiber distribution to at least "neighborhood level pedestals," if not block-level pedestals. This brings the fiber VERY close to the customer, almost as close as FIOS. Cable TV providers are doing it too, also alongside regular maintenance, which is required more frequently than phone line maintenance due to the nature of their lines.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by sek929 

$50/mo.

my ping times anger Dakar

I don't hate you, I hate that out here in bumble**** Verizon has left me for dead.
Fun fact: You know why Gears matchmaking always goes well when we're paired? Because you're a viable host. When it hangs its because its looking for another party of 5 to be host

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Suck my ping.



$20/month, no bundled cable or voice.

5 ms? Pshhh. That's nothing. I'd know, 5 ms wouldn't save my ping at all.
(Is that an introductory price? If not, impressive)

---

Verizon just added a third tier where I live (1st tier: 768 down / 328 up, 2nd tier: 3 down / 768 up). It's 7 down and a whopping 768 up. As a gamer, it's worthless for me.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

But it's not artificial, is it? It's an actual technicality relating to how ADSL (etc.) lines operate. Signal to noise ration, crosstalk, that kind of jazz.

Well, it is. I don't necessarily expect upload = download, but that upload speed is limited below what it could actually be. The least they could do is remove the cap on the upload speed and make it something like 10 MBit/s downstream and less than 10 MBit/s downstream (just use the maximum that is possible with your line and cap it at the download rate).

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Don't you think that if it was that easy and cheap to go symmetric (without the entire country being ripped up and fiber being laid), there'd be a provider out there incorporating it into their service and shouting about it in order to get the jump on their competitors?

It is possible and I've had symmetric 22 MBit/s DSL in 2003 on copper. Granted, it was Japan that has had 3G since 2004, I believe.

In my opinion the providers are artificially limiting upload speeds to prevent people from setting up small servers in their homes. (My Japanese provider simply used another trick to prevent that: there was an outside router between the internet and my home modem so that I could not forward ports to my computer.)

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

5 ms? Pshhh. That's nothing. I'd know, 5 ms wouldn't save my ping at all.
(Is that an introductory price? If not, impressive)

I shopped around - I got $20/month for the first year, free installation, and a $50 mail in rebate. I never planned on living here for more than a year, so it was a great deal for me.

My parents pay $45/month for 256 down/64? up. Robbery.

[Dakar V]

Owwww

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

My parents pay $45/month for 256 down/64? up. Robbery.

That, should be illegal.

[turtle777]

Oh yeah, I like my new service.

-t

[Tiresias]

Well, this is interesting.

Today, the Internet guy hooked up a new connection.



It came with cable TV and a telephone, and it didn't cost me a won. In fact, I was paid $250 USD to sign up for a three-year contract.

If I am not mistaken, this makes me King of Teh Interwebs for today.

[turtle777]

Your upload speed teh sucks though.

I like good upload speed. Just backed up my 12GB iPhoto library.
Took about 15 hrs., IIRC.

-t

[Rumor]

Current one is the bottom, however, we have four laptops using it at the moment, and I am hosting a game server that currently has 14 people logged in. I got the bundle from Comcast with tv and internet. It was cheaper to do that then it was to get internet alone. It isn't their best internet line, but it is only one tier down. If FiOS was in my area, I would be all over it.

[chichow]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Suck my ping.



$20/month, no bundled cable or voice.

suck MY ping



mock my speed

[Angelo78]

I'm happy with my switch to Verizon. It's been faster than this (I have the 20/2 plan) but maybe being a Saturday night has something to do with the results.

[shifuimam]

11.2 mbps down, 2.7mbps up.

Not too bad...we're on the 16/4mbps Comcast plan (which is actually 8mbp with PowerBoost). We're switching to a business-class line soon, though. so our speeds will change a bit - I think it's 6/1 or something like that.

[chichow]

So I pay about $70 a month all in.

I get 5Mb/384kb up for the internet
and I get HD TV I lease the modem and pay the 1.5USD rental card for the cable card.

This is with RCN. I am thinking of dropping the TV.

RCN has 20Mb down and 2Mb up for about $70 all in.
--

I can't for the life of me, figure out what Comcast offers for UP and DOWN. I'm in Chicago and on their website, it just lists powerboost etc down speeds no up speeds.

Help?

[Phileas]

To suggest that working around the problem is an acceptable solution to the problem strikes me as a very British thing to do. British Telecom and British Rail used to be masters at this.

I've just this weekend had to upload about 2GB of video from a lecture my business partner and I gave at a Toronto University. To call the experience painful is putting it mildly. Most Canandian ISPs fleece their customers in ever new and ingenious ways, without offering much in the way of service. The re-sellers that are trying to change that scenario are being held back by Bell at very conceivable opportunity.

[SSharon]

I'm working at school today and ran another speedtest to see what we get out here.



Not a bad upload speed at all.